A while back there was this meme-thingie on the Interwebs in which you tagged someone and asked them to tell 16 random things about themselves. I published my list here about four years back, came across it today and thought I’d update it.

So, here are my sixteen things.

1. I’m a Baha’i.

2. I’m married to a rock star (well, okay, he’s a seriously talented guitarist/songwriter/music producer who looks like a rock star and whose hair was longer than mine when we got married).

3. I love ships—both tall ships and classic ocean liners—and am fascinated by shipwrecks. One of my favorite books of all time is THE ONLY WAY TO CROSS, which is about said classic ocean liners. (I have a favorite ocean liner. She was the Normandie.)

4. I have three mind-bogglingly amazing children who are the best things I’ve ever done. Since I once thought I didn’t want children at all, this is a Big Deal to me. One teaches middle school physics and is a talented songwriter. One has Bachelors degrees in Anthropology and International Area Studies and is a baking phenom. One is a junior in high school, marches bass drum in the Oak Grove Marching Band, and plays tenor sax and trombone in other musical configurations.

5. My favorite color is the color of fire … and pumpkins … and curry powder.

6. I am addicted to archaeology. Mummies rule!

7. I was torn between being a musician, a writer, an artist, and an archaeologist when I was growing up. I’m a musician and a writer and occasionally draw something. I also have used my archaeo-fu in my most recent novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER. I figure that gives me a solid 3 out of four.

8. I LOVE the process of writing and get depressed when I finish a novel.

9. I just had my first mystery novel published by Pegasus Crime. THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER stars the tiny but irrepressible Gina Miyoko. The photo is from our local Barnes & Noble.

10. I was desperate to play the oboe when I was a kid, but they were too expensive, so I played clarinet.

11. I play Taylor guitars. I have two—a gorgeous jumbo curly maple named Clancy and an amazing grand concert made of Tasmanian Black-heart Sassafras. His name is Cisco Ramon.

12. I prefer to drive Volvos. I have owned four of them. Their names were Falda, Kelpie, Serenity and Selkie (who alas, has left this mechanical coil). I now drive a Prius named Baldric. His companion vehicles in our driveway are my daughter Kris’s blue Prius (Mrs. Miggins) and husband Jeff’s blue Volt (Edmund). If you get those references you are delightfully nerdy.

13. The smell of Indian food and basmati rice makes me Snoopy dance.

14. I owned and trained horses when I was a teenager and actually enjoyed mucking out stalls. Very meditative. I now meditate by designing book covers. Less smelly.